Рыбин, Ю. В. Советские асы на Харрикейнах в годы Второй Мировой Войны / Юрий Рыбин . – [Б. м. ] : Osprey Publishing, 2012. – 97 с. : ил., портр. – Англ. яз.

10 May also saw the military council of the Northern Fleet recommend that Guards Capt Aleksander Kovalenko, CO of 2nd GKAB’s 2nd Squadron, be awarded the title of HSU in recognition of his 12 victories, the last five of which made him a Northern Fleet Air Force Hurricane ace. By then Kovalenko had flown 146 combat sorties and participated in 22 aerial engagements. His award was dated 14 June 1942 by order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. ----------------------------- D e a t h o f O r l o v ------------------------------- Meanwhile, Sergey Kurzenkov was in hospital recovering from the head injury he sustained during his forced landing. By the end of May, when he returned to duty, his eight victories still put him one up on his rival, and comrade, Pavel Orlov. The latter was to receive the Order of the Red Banner at the beginning of June, but his time as a Hurricane pilot was now coming to an end. His next battles would be fought with American fighters, namely the Kittyhawk I and P-39N Airacobra. By the end of January 1943 Orlov was a squadron leader, and he had just claimed his 11th enemy aircraft while flying a P-39. However, on 15 March the Hurricane ace fought his last battle. He was one of a number of Northern Fleet pilots searching for a comrade who had failed to return from a sortie the previous evening. Flying low over enemy territory, they encountered a formation of Bf 109Fs that had an altitude advantage over the Soviet fighters. After the initial attack, the P-39 pilots broke up and the fight continued as a series of individual battles. It was a confused situation, and none of his comrades could later say exactly how Orlov had met his death. Two days later a search party found his crashed aircraft on the tundra, the dead ace being discovered in the cockpit of his P-39. His logbook recorded 329 operational sorties, during which he had fought in 32 aerial battles. Orlov was also credited with destroying 12 enemy aircraft. He was posthumously awarded the title of HSU by order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, dated 24 July 1943. The official recommendation had noted in particular that ‘There was a confidence in the regiment, with good reason, that wherever Capt Orlov and his subordinates were engaged in combat they would surely be victorious over the enemy’. As his regimental colleague and fellow HSU Zakhar Sorokhin recalled after the war; ‘I can still see him standing before me even now, heavy set with broad shoulders. He looked somehow clumsy on the ground, yet in the air he was distinguished by his exceptional skill and decisiveness. We always watched his masterly flights with excitement. It seemed he was born to be a fighter pilot.’ This sombre photograph was taken at the funeral of Capt Pavel Orlov, who was killed in aerial combat on 15 March 1943. In the guard of honour, to the right, is his brother officer, friend and ace Capt Vladimir Pokrovskiy 53 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com NORTHERN FLEET ACES